TOPIC: It is somewhat of an annual tradition to ask Larry to re-cap the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You can view his slides from 2014, best of CES presented by Larry Chait, here. Innovation in high tech has long been a staple of American ingenuity and a major driver in our economy. But CES is a global event and it is clear that the U. S. has no corner on the electronics industry. From acres of real estate in 2015 devoted to the really new, really big, and really pushing the envelope, Larry has captured some of the unique items from across the globe on display this year for us to contemplate. We can all join in with commentary on what we see as vital or highly desirable creations, and you are also invited to critique the truly absurd.

With the knowledge of hindsight, we might also reflect on past exhibits and what has flunked the test of the market or soared to unexpected adoption.

And this year, Larry has gone beyond CES. He’s been following other innovations - especially in healthcare, which he will be sharing with us.

BIOGRAPHY: Larry Chait is Managing Director of Chait & Associates, a consultancy that advises senior management on achieving and sustaining high performance. Prior to forming Chait and Associates, Larry was a vice president and director of Arthur D. Little, Inc. He held several positions at ADL, including chief knowledge officer, consulting director and principal. Larry has authored three books on information technology and human resources, and is a contributing author of Managing the Learning Process of the Corporation. He has also authored 20 articles published in the U.S. and abroad, lectured in MBA and post-graduate programs in five universities, and spoken at over 35 conferences on topics process improvement, knowledge management, and the management of change. He is currently Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Executive Masters in Healthcare Management program at Brown University. Larry is President of The Boston KM Forum, an organization for practitioners in Knowledge Management. Larry received his A.B. in Economics from Cornell University and his M.B.A. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

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TOPIC: Knowledge assets and expertise are the cornerstones of success for any professional services firm, or industries in which research & development drive innovation. Bob has over two decades of experience working in the professional services area that consults to diverse industries. How does he guide his team and manage the knowledge base that they bring to work with clients? Where does the strategic process begin? What are some of the grass-roots efforts that a junior partner can initiate to make an impact with the firm, or for a client? We’ll ask Bob to tell us about some of his experiences and give you an opportunity to join in the questioning.

BIOGRAPHY: Bob Armacost is Principal and Global Head of Knowledge at KPMG, LLP, where he is responsible for leading knowledge management strategy and implementation. A graduate of MIT, Sloan School of Management, and Northwestern University where he earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering, Bob also served in the Air Force, leaving with the rank of Captain. He was then a consulting manager at Bain and Company, before becoming Director of Knowledge Management for ten years. With his expertise in strategy and establishing successful knowledge initiatives, we will focus our interview on his career experiences and solicit his recommendations for launching a knowledge activity.

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TOPIC: We are pleased to wrap up 2014 with a special guest interview, featuring Gary Kahn, a long-time associate of the Boston KM Forum and currently focusing on SharePoint-based search and findability projects for clients. Gary’s long career in the field of knowledge management will give our members a good sense of how to grow and succeed with KM initiatives. We will begin the program with refreshments and round-the-table self introductions and then interview Gary. Members will have a chance to chime in with their own questions as we celebrate the end of year 12 of the Boston KM Forum.

BIOGRAPHY: Gary Kahn is Vice-President and Practice Director for Search & Findability Solutions. In this role, he works closely with clients to design effective approaches to content management, search and collaboration.

Gary has led several SharePoint Information Architecture projects, facilitating cross-functional teams. More broadly, he works with executives and senior managers to strategize, plan, initiate and realize programs for business process improvement through the effective use of information technology.

Prior to Earley & Associates, Gary held positions with major consulting companies, including PriceWaterhouseCoopers and IBM. As a research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, Gary developed innovative designs for knowledge-based systems. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago.

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TOPIC: Larry has been a “change guy” throughout his career. His insights into where the barriers to change lie will be featured as he leads us through an exercise on change management as it relates to knowledge initiatives. If you like being challenged to find underlying issues and to come up with solutions to management problems, you will enjoy this program. We will dig into the issues that are hard to see because they sit below the surface of most organizational visibility.

BIOGRAPHY: Larry Chait is Managing Director of Chait & Associates, a consultancy that advises senior management on achieving and sustaining high performance. Prior to forming Chait and Associates, Larry was a vice president and director of Arthur D. Little, Inc. He held several positions at ADL, including chief knowledge officer, consulting director and principal. Larry has authored three books on information technology and human resources, and is a contributing author of Managing the Learning Process of the Corporation. He has also authored 20 articles published in the U.S. and abroad, lectured in MBA and post-graduate programs in five universities, and spoken at over 35 conferences on topics process improvement, knowledge management, and the management of change. He is currently Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Executive Masters in Healthcare Management program at Brown University. Larry is President of The Boston KM Forum, an organization for practitioners in Knowledge Management. Larry received his A.B. in Economics from Cornell University and his M.B.A. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

PLEASE PLEASE Register even if you are not certain you can attend so we have an accurate estimate of attendees for handouts. If you then make a decision not to attend, please use the registration link and note in the comments field that you will not attend.

NOTE: The registration page has changed and you will be directed to another site where the registration form resides. It is now hosted by lwmtechnology.com and is legitimate.

TOPIC: Work relationships are important to an individual’s professional performance. Leaders’ successes depend on the people they lead; this gives workers a tacit role and responsibility to find opportunities to present ideas or to start initiatives that support their managers’ endeavors. In this session everyone will be asked to present real or hypothetical examples of indirect leader support. Instead of airing grievances, we will share best or better ways to get a knowledge initiative on a positive footing with those in positions of influence.

If you have a short (eight minute) case story or experience you would like to share about how you tried and succeeded in helping a manager be a better knowledge initiative leader, let us know on the registration form and we will include your case to supplement the discussion.

BIOGRAPHY: NA

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NOTE: The registration page has changed and you will be directed to another site where the registration form resides. It is now hosted by lwmtechnology.com and is legitimate.

TOPIC: As a follow-on to our very successful August meeting, we will focus on ways that managers and institutional leaders can create the environment for opening up more dialogue and opportunities for inquiry among employees. Among the major themes established, as we participated in a group discussion at the last meeting, was the need for managers to create an environment and culture that encourages people to freely express professional ideas, share knowledge and skills that will help others understand roles, assignments, work outcomes and innovative suggestions.

Bring your experiences and observations of your workplaces in which you saw a managerial example that encouraged sharing and active communication among peers. If you have a short (eight minute) case story or experience you would like to share about how leaders established successful sharing cultures, let me know and we will include a panel of three to supplement the discussion.

BIOGRAPHY: Panel to be announced

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TOPIC: Successful knowledge leadership requires depth and breadth of knowledge about an organization. How knowledge leaders go about acquiring that knowledge varies, but certain competencies and learning skills can be applied with great results. Come to this meeting to learn techniques you can apply to acquire institutional knowledge. Bring with you at least one idea or example of how you or other leaders acquire institutional. If you have a short (eight minute) case story or experience you would like to share about how inquiry contributed to a successful outcome, let me know and we will include a panel of three to supplement the discussion.

BIOGRAPHY: Panel (TBA)

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TOPIC: Benchmarking knowledge transfer activity is just one aspect of assessing the outcomes in the evolving mentoring activities at the U. S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts. Elizabeth McCoy has been actively working on leveraging knowledge through the development of active programs to transfer knowledge through mentoring for several years. Currently holding the title of Physical Scientist in the Science Technology and Innovation Division at the Center, she has a managerial role in assuring excellence in knowledge transfer as experts near retirement. In this interview, we will learn more about her background and how that has lead to the current areas of focus.

BIOGRAPHY: Elizabeth McCoy is a Physical Scientist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) located in Natick, MA, where she serves as a staff scientist within the Science Technology and Innovation Div., Warfighter Protection Directorate. Responsibilities include technology planning and developing technology transition strategies while also providing KM coaching within her division.

Previously Ms. McCoy was team leader of the Chemical Technology Team; the team initiated a grass roots KM effort that piloted knowledge transfer approaches. This effort included formal mentoring and building collaboration and engagement within the team’s technical community. Approaches piloted by her team have been expanded by senior researchers within the organization to address the transfer of specific knowledge domains before impending retirement.

Ms McCoy also has experience serving as the NSRDEC Chemical Defense Coordinator, and being the primary interface for NSRDEC’s CB individual protection programs with other government agencies, academia and industry. Earlier work involved quality assurance, fiber research and color/camouflage. Ms. McCoy holds a B.S. in Textiles from the University of Rhode Island, and Chemistry from Framingham State College. She holds a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the U. Mass Lowell as well as an M.S. in Marketing and Technological Innovation from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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TOPIC: Continuing our highly interactive and successful May program in which inter-generational cultural factors developed as a major theme, we have invited Suzanne Mrozak to share her professional experiences and observations about enterprise cultures. Suzanne grew up professionally with a young biotech firm that grew successfully for three decades before being acquired by a multinational pharmaceutical company. We will speak with her about her educational background, early career shifts, and the ways in which her work and roles evolved over 20 years. Of particular interest will be hearing her thoughts on roles and positioning in KM related activities, institutional cultural and industry changes. We will also ask about how a shifting landscape changed her work experiences, attitudes about responsibilities and where she believes institutional impact can be made in knowledge leveraging initiatives. Our objective is to learn where Suzanne believes we should place more focus to gain maximum value from knowledge generated in the enterprise, and to bring you into the discussion with your own questions and thoughts.

BIOGRAPHY: Suzanne Mrozak recently left Sanofi after 20 years in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. She was Director of the Global Information and Records Management Program (InfoRM) when Sanofi acquired Genzyme in 2011. In 2012 InfoRM was merged with the Sanofi US Records Management function where Suzanne was employed for her remaining time at Sanofi.

Suzanne began her career as a biomedical research assistant in academia before working as a technical writer for MEDITECH, writing user manuals for health care information systems software. She began her work at Genzyme Manufacturing Operations in 1994 as a technical writer for the start up of the Allston Landing Facility. After two years in that role, she joined a newly formed team of three, which was responsible for the corporate-wide implementation and support of the company’s first Document Management System, Livelink, an OpenText application. Later, after moving to Genzyme’s Biomedical and Regulatory Affairs group supporting document management and publishing systems, her role evolved. It was to direct, manage, implement, and support document management, information and records management, and knowledge management systems initiatives in Genzyme’s BioMedical Operations. In 2008 Suzanne began developing a global information and records management (IRM) program, where she directed a corporate-wide IRM infrastructure.

Suzanne’s academic degrees include a BS in biology, psychology and art history from McGill University, and a Masters in Technical and Professional Writing from Northeastern University. Her other interests include the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston (www.fssgb.org), photography, gardening, and taking an active role in changing the conversation about climate change. Suzanne Mrozak’s LinkedIn Profile

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TOPIC: Mr. Hadar has the breadth and depth of experience at a single organization that qualified him to be a knowledge management leader for his institution. We will ask Giora about his professional evolution and how he moved into that role, his professional philosophy about the nature of institutional knowledge, and how that may have changed over the years at the FAA. Then we will talk to him more pointedly about his recent interest and focus: A case study about the three age groups of air traffic controllers in the FAA. Finally, reasons for the interest in the pursuit of his PhD in Knowledge Management will round out the interview.

BIOGRAPHY: Giora Hadar recently retired from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with 33 years of government service. Thirty plus years in program management included over 19 years with the title of Knowledge Manager. Mr. Hadar is nationally and internationally recognized as a knowledge management (KM) expert, an invited speaker to KM conferences and workshops in the U.S., UK, Brazil and Australia, where he has presented more than two dozen topics in just the past ten years. His principal areas of expertise and experience include the planning and design of numerous KM programs that address knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, collaboration, and social media. He developed KM strategies, policies and programs for three government agencies. Recent publications focus on the topic of institutional knowledge transfer across generational groups with emphasis on partnerships and leveraging current technologies.

Mr. Hadar is currently a member of the KM Advisory Board, Kent State University, and has held memberships in the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM), been on the advisory board of the annual e-Gov KM Conference, and was National leader of the Federal KM Working Group. He has a B. Arch. from Howard University and is a Ph.D. candidate in KM at the Graduate School, Economics and Business, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. LinkedIn Profile

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NOTE: The registration page has changed and you will be directed to another site where the registration form resides. It is now hosted by lwmtechnology.com and is legitimate.